You would not have thought it possible, no?  Oranges are healthy, they are fruit, for goodness’ sake, and fruit’s good for you!  But actually, if you look at the science, the thought that oranges or more specifically, citrus fruit can increase your risk of skin cancer is … [Read More...] about Can oranges give you skin cancer?

My husband has two common conditions.  He has vitiligo which is relatively stable and been going for some years and he has developed some sort of hearing loss in recent years.  Now, the standard rigmarole is for him to say “Pardon?” with a perplexed expression whenever we mention it and which then … [Read More...] about Vitiligo and hearing loss…, pardon?

At the time of writing this blog, we are on our family holiday to Cumbria, opting for a UK based holiday because we’re both in professions where we can’t run the risk of us or the kids (not having been vaccinated) having to self isolate for 10 days upon our return.   Surprisingly, there … [Read More...] about Engine oil dermatitis

It was extremely interesting to read in the June edition of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology of something called narrative fallacy.   [Yesudian RI and Yesudian PD.  Case reports and narrative fallacies: the enigma of black swans in dermatology.  Clin Exp Dermatol 2021; 46: … [Read More...] about Black swans in Dermatology

The three common skin cancers are basal cell carcinomata (BCC), squamous cell carcinomata (SCC) and malignant melanomas (MM).  In the UK on the NHS, these skin cancers are triaged into their respective urgencies in order to best utilise health care resources.  So basal cell carcinomata are triaged … [Read More...] about How do we know whether an SCC will metastasise or not?

It was interesting to read in the March edition of the journal Pediatric Dermatology of a little known entity called autoimmune progesterone dermatitis.   [Aghazadeh N, Chattha A, Hartz M et al.  Autoimmune progesterone dermatitis in the adolescent population.  Pediatr Dermatol … [Read More...] about Do you get a rash which cycles with your menstrual period?

The pandemic has resulted in the removal of little warm, daily forms of interaction such as handshakes, pats, hugs, squeezes and strokes which on their own do not amount to much.  However, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to miss them in daily life with people I don’t live with.  Have you … [Read More...] about Are you “skin hungry”?

In January’s edition of the British Journal of Dermatology is an interesting article on villainous hair, or the lack of it.   [Kyriakou G, Drivelou V & Glentis A.  Villainous hair : ba(l)d to the bone – would they be so evil if they had hair? Br J Dermatol … [Read More...] about Bald baddies

We’ve looked at the microbiome in eczema and now focus has turned to the microbiome in acne.   [Dréno B, Dagnelie MA, Khammari A et al.  The Skin Microbiome : A New Actor in Inflammatory Acne.  Am J Clin Dermatol 2020;21(Suppl 1):S18-S24.]   We know that the organism … [Read More...] about Ecobiological treatments for acne

January in the northern hemisphere is hardly the time to be stocking up on sunscreens.  We do actually keep a fully stocked, big bag of sunscreens by the back door for everyone to have access to before they go out.  It also makes it easier when we go on holiday for me to just slot that bag in a … [Read More...] about Anyone dreaming of a holiday?

When Lockdown Version 1 happened, my hair really suffered, like I’m sure a lot of you.  We were unprepared and then when we realised it was going to last several months, getting hold of home haircut sets and hair dye was virtually impossible.  My family eventually settled for our version of a ‘Home … [Read More...] about The environmental benefits of getting your hair cut

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been non-stop talk of a vaccine for SARS CoV-2 which will put this whole coronavirus episode behind us and allow us to move forwards.  At the time of writing, there are hopes that a potential vaccine will be available from December of this year.  In the … [Read More...] about The environmental impact of a vaccine

We personally were relieved when the kids went back to school.  Yes, we were worried about them catching coronavirus and passing it on and then we were worried about the societal impact of children going back to school and the numbers of cases escalating across the country as a whole.  However, we … [Read More...] about Let the learning continue…

My youngest enjoys his swimming and partakes in a local swimming club on a rather regular basis.  With the easing of lockdown in the UK, his club restarted a few weeks ago.  He was especially jubilant, his siblings were a little jealous (as it was hot and the pool looked so inviting) and we, as … [Read More...] about Pool palms

Many of us with school age children will have experienced the peculiar ‘delight’ of having to homeschool our children during lockdown.    For the majority of us, whose only stress used to involve the dropping off and picking up, ensuring their uniform was clean and fitted, together with … [Read More...] about The ‘joys’ and perils of homeschooling in lockdown.